Gabe Newell: DirectX 10 for Vista was a mistake

According to an online survey by Valve Software, only one in fifty players who access download service Steam has a DirectX 10-compatible graphics card and Windows Vista installed. In an interview with heise online, Gabe Newell, president of Valve Software, said that Microsoft made a terrible mistake releasing DirectX 10 for Vista only and excluding Windows XP. He said this decision affected the whole industry as so far only a very small percentage of players can use DirectX 10.

When developing cross-platform games which are also released for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, developers look for the smallest common denominator. And since neither Microsoft's nor Sony's new consoles support Shader Model 4.0 for DirectX 10, only a few games use it.

DX10 is brand new and is just getting on its feet barely walking but once it hits the ground running we will start to some amazing performance coming out of the new games but until then give it a chance. You can't run before learning to walk. You can't love until you learn how to hate. You can't shoot a Grunt without ammo. I could go on and on with these useless anologies but I doubt the Sony fanboys will care.

Seriously, To compare Windows to the console war is amazingly ignorant. Windows has revolutionized the industry. Granted Vista isn't quite the upgrade that XP was compared to 98', But to compare Windows to the console war is ignorant to say the least.

Remember, just because MS makes the 360 doesn't make everything they do a mistake.

I posted this story, because I feel Vista was not ready for the mass market to accept, Especially on the gaming side. To force Vista games was a mistake, When the game industry was still settling on Windows XP. but please don't sit here and try to say MS has not revolutionized the industry.

Gabe is exactly right. But steam isn't a good poll of what percentage of gamers are ready for DX10. It's biggest game is Half-life 1 and its mods. That game was released during DX8. According to Gamespy multiplayer stats people play that 20th century game 2:1 over Half-life 2.

Cell does all hdr, and can do any graphic effect that dx10,11,12,etc has.

Has nothing to do with rsx.

But what scares me the most is this statement:

The Half-Life 2 Orange Box, which will be released for PC and Xbox 360 on 12. October, uses DirectX 10 functionality only for accelerating some mimics. Visually, however, it was virtually impossible to differentiate between the versions. The PS3 edition is being developed by an EA studio and is scheduled for release two to three weeks later.